Washington: The White House on Thursday rejected remarks from failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney that Barack Obama owed his re-election to "gifts" he showered on women, African American and Hispanic supporters.

Obama spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that Romney's "view of the American people and the election is at odds with the truth of what happened last week."

In Romney's first published comments since conceding the election last week, the Republican ex-candidate accused Obama of following the "old playbook" by bestowing favors on key Democratic constituencies in exchange for their support.

"With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest was a big gift," Romney said during the phone call with top donors, in which he also called out Obama's health reform and his order not to deport illegal immigrants brought to the US as minors by their parents.

"In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups," Romney said.

Obama garnered 51 per cent of the popular vote to Romney's 48 per cent, and won decisively in the state-by-state Electoral College, where he earned 332 votes to Romney's 206.

During the 20-minute phone call, Romney didn't admit making any mistakes in his campaign, saying his rival won thanks to these "gifts," by making "a big effort on small things," while his own campaign had been about "big issues."

Asked about these remarks by reporters aboard Air Force One, Carney defended Obama's social measures as "good for all Americans" and "good for the economy."

"The president pursued policies that have at their core a desire to help the middle class, strengthen the middle class, and make the middle class more secure, because that's what makes America more secure."